Top 3 Strategies to Prevent Self-Storage Manager Burnout

Finding a dedicated, knowledgeable manager has always been a challenge – even before the labor shortage. Perhaps right now you and that great manager are one and the same.

Multiple priorities and responsibilities can make it even harder to retain a great manager.

Commit to keeping quality staff and helping them perform at their best. Look at your manager’s day and workflows, think about your business goals, and give them the tools needed to succeed.

1. Simplify the Sales Pitch

Occupancy is the key to success for any self-storage facility. Your manager’s priority is to get tenants and keep them. Depending on your location, prospective tenants may have several options, so managers need to effectively present your facility and its benefits.

As a facility owner, you’re focused on maximizing self-storage revenue and exploring opportunities to grow. Tenant protection is one area where you can add value to your tenants and boost your profitability.

But if you add that to a manager’s list of options to offer to prospects, tenant protection can easily fall to the bottom of the list. Operators with little sales experience may feel uncomfortable mentioning additional services in their initial conversation – even though tenant protection signals to prospects that you value their business and their stored goods.

Often you as the owner may lose time, too, since helping your staff build this skill requires you (or another team member) reviewing their sales conversations, providing feedback, and tracking their success.

Self-storage automation software can simplify the leasing process, especially with additional value-added services like tenant protection. Auto-enrollment makes it easy to place tenants into one of your store plans when they do not have other valid coverage. No conversation, coaching, or feedback is needed.

2. Cut Down on the Paperwork

Even the best self-storage technology solutions can’t make policy and document management disappear. But the more you ask your manager to collect, track, and update, the more time this administrative work takes away from their focus on your bottom line.

Take tenant protection, for example. Without an automated solution, managers need to track:

• Initial sign-up for new tenants
• Proof of coverage (for your plan and any alternative coverage)
• Upcoming lapses or current gaps in coverage

Automated tenant protection software will collect, manage, and track the enrollment status of all your customers, from providing an online tenant portal where customers can submit proof of coverage or choose their level of protection to sending them notifications for expiring plans.

Give time back to your manager to oversee daily operations and run a best-in-class self-storage facility.

3. Make Them Feel Indispensable

Most managers enjoy their roles because they play an integral part in their company’s success. Your manager brings knowledge and experience in customer service, facility management, recordkeeping, and more to help you run a profitable self-storage business.

Let your manager know that you recognize their diverse strengths and value their hard work without choosing to ignore additional revenue opportunities. By helping them focus where they provide the most value, your managers feel like they’re a core part of the team.

Less Burnout, More Efficiency

Automated self-storage solutions streamline your manager’s daily tasks and keep their workload focused. And for services like tenant protection, an automated approach can boost enrollment rates and revenue.

If you’re your own manager, this still applies to you. Simplify your workload and reap the rewards of a more efficient business.